Make no mistake: Book titles are advertising headlines, and the
jackets they emblazon are one-page ads for the books. What's
more, they're some of the best ads you'll ever see. They
have to be. If the title doesn't pique the book browser's
curiosity, the book doesn't get noticed, picked up, flipped
over (to read the summary on back), flipped through or bought.

That's how critical great jacket copy is, including the
supporting subtitle-and a lot of investment in time and money hangs
on those few words being read. So if you need inspiration to
jump-start your own brainstorming efforts, simply head for your
nearest bookstore, and stroll the aisles with notepad in hand.
Chances are, you will find titles- usually nonfiction-that will
either morph into headlines for your own advertising or trigger
ideas you wouldn't have otherwise considered.

A solid example of a title that turns heads like any great
headline should is shown on the book jacket displayed here.
Patricia Schultz's 1,000 Places to See Before You Die is a
top-selling travel tome from Workman Publishing. Clearly, it
wouldn't be as popular without the unexpected use of the phrase
"before you die" in the title. With the addition of those
three eyebrow-arching words, the publisher has cleverly promoted
the irresistibility of the content. However, a travel agency could
just as easily have slapped a version of that on its advertising
brochure.

There's no question that book titles featuring surprising
words and phrases, just as in ads, grab the eyeballs of passersby.
Think how successful The Complete Idiot's and For
Dummies guides have been, as well as the Chicken Soup for
the Soul series. There are also a great many titles that simply
promote compelling benefits. A book called Age Erasers for Women and one dubbed
Shed 10 Years in 10 Weeks are two titles
that come to mind as examples of those that titillate by promising
benefits to the reader. Either one of those titles could have
succeeded as the headline on ads for facial rejuvenation
products.

Book titles that promote the "one-minute" method of
shortcut solutions can be transformed into ads using that same
idea, be it a two-minute or 10-minute technique. Then, of course,
there's the granddaddy of benefit phrases-How to . .
.that has adorned the cover of many a bestseller. As in, say,
How to Use Book Titles to Inspire Your Own Great
Advertising.

Jerry
Fisher is a freelance advertising copywriter and author of
Creating Successful Small Business Advertising.